* A joint-venture refinery and chemical project between China National Petroleum Corp and Venezuelan state oil and gas firm PDVSA has been reactivated and is expected to be operational in late 2021, Chinese financial publication Caixin reported on Wednesday

* The 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery, to be built in an industrial park in Jieyang in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, will cost 65.4 billion yuan ($9.53 billion)in total investment, Caixin said

* CNPC will make 60 percent of the investment and PDVSA the remaining 40 percent. The refinery is expected to start trial operation in October 2021 and the chemical complex in December 2021, Caixin said

* CNPC, parent of PetroChina, first planned the mega project more than a decade ago, but the investment has been hindered and delayed by declining crude oil production in Venezuela, which is now under severe economic stress

* China plowed more than $50 billion into Venezuela over a decade through oil-for-loan agreements that helped Beijing secure energy supplies while bolstering an anti-Washington ally in Latin America